3 months ago, after the Zero Crisis Finale...

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"Okay Midas where are ya taking me?"

"Now Jones if I told you where I was taking you it wouldn't be a surprise would it?"

A few months had past by ever since the Zero Point was sealed away, along with a member of the Seven, inside a Spire. The island had gone primal, with electric resources running low and wild animals like raptors and wolves running rampant across the land. Many had adapted to it quite well, others not so much.

Midas and his friends were some of the people who didn't have too much trouble getting used to the primal vibes, with him and Jules' brilliant minds creating weapons and keeping what electrical resources they had left running. Marigold, the Midas from a gender-swapped dimension, was stranded on the island with no way home but she seemed quite content living with Skye and TnTina.

As of late though, everyone could see Midas' mind was wandering elsewhere. Everyone knew he had found himself a romantic interest in John Jones. They spent a lot of time together, both on the island and when the golden mastermind got himself caught in Jones' reality hopping mission.

They seemed happy together. But it was unconfirmed if they were in a relationship with each other. They seemed like it, but they looked like they were waiting for one of them to pop the question.

However, despite that, the only one who was having a little bit of trouble getting used to things on the island...

...was John Jones himself.

Ever since the reality of his ex-wife Janice being permanently dead hit him, with the knowledge that she wasn't coming back, plus being fired from his job for saving reality, his normally goofy laid back dorky self had been missing for a long time.

And Midas couldn't stand by and watch his boyfriend be upset.

So he alone worked tirelessly to make him something that he hoped would lift his spirits at least a little.

"Well I suppose that's true. What's the point in a surprise if you tell the person when it is?" Jones snickers, keeping a tight grip on his boyfriend's hand.

"Exactly. Now, stand here a moment. And keep your eyes closed."

Jones does as he's told and stays standing with his eyes shut. A door being closed behind him and light source being switched on.

"Alright, you can open them now."

He does just that and is almost slightly taken back by what he's seeing;

Midas had rearranged his bedroom to make it look like his old sleeping quarters back in the Imagined Order. From the couch and TV, right down to the arcade cabinet and posters on his wall.

"You... recreated my sleeping quarters from I.O?" He mutters in awe, sitting down on his bed with Midas joining him.

"Mhm. You've been looking really low as of late, so I wanted to try and lift your spirits." Midas hums with a smile. "And it looks as though it's worked."

Jones smiles with a chuckle, a genuine smile on his face. Midas can't help but do the same, putting an arm over his shoulder.

"Y'know M, I know things seem odd right now with all the primal stuff going on. But I'm...I'm happy with where my life is right now." Jones tells him, lying his head on Midas' shoulder. "For the first time in a while, I feel safe here instead of having the feeling of an angry boss eyeing me through a camera everyday."

"I'm...glad you feel a sense of comfort here. I want you to feel safe."

Midas' cheeks go a slight pink as he takes a hold of Jones' hand, rubbing his ringed finger softly with a thumb.

"And...well..."

Jones turns to look at Midas.

"Yeah?"

"You...can always sleep with me if you can't sleep."

He goes a bright red in the face, but laughs with a smile.

"Thanks Midas."

"There's..actually something else I've wanted to ask for a while now..."

The two of them stand up, Midas putting his hands together as his cheeks continue to grow more and more pink. He really had something to get off his chest, but he was lacking the confidence to ask.

"John Jones...do you..."

Jones hugs his arms, awaiting Midas' question. However, before he can pluck up the courage, the lights begin to flicker on and off, cutting their heartfelt conversation off.

"Hmm. That's odd. Jules said our power supply was fine, didn't she?" Jones mutters.

Midas nods. The two of them head out the bedroom, dash downstairs and find Jules outside staring starstruck at the sky. Storm clouds had rolled over the island and it was getting dark. However, strange lights were cutting through the fog.

"Jules what on earth is going on out here?"

"Look!"

Small and medium sized saucers begin souring through the clouds, surrounding the Spire at the heart of the island. Other people in the neighbourhood begin leaving their homes at the sudden disturbance affecting their electricity. Some look quite unsettled, others seemed to welcome the strange visitors up in the sky.

"No way. Are those...aliens?" Jones chuckles in awe.

Midas' phone begins to vibrate in his pocket as one of his closest agents, Skye, calls him.

"Bossman, are you seeing this right now?!" Her voice cuts through as he answers.

"Affirmative Agent Skye. The island isn't a stranger to odd happenings..." He replies. "...but this is certainly like nothing we've ever seen before."

"I thought it couldn't get any weirder after Galactus, but I guess I was wrong!" TnTina's voice can be heard in the background of the phonecall.

A low humming noise from the sky alerts the islanders, causing them to look back up and what they see is something unnerving but extraordinary. A mega sized UFO, most definitely the Mothership, flies over the island and covers it with its shadow. The center hovering directly under the Spire.

"What do you think it's doing?" Jules asks, holding her brother's arm.

"I'm not sure. But what could have drawn it to the island?"

"Oh please. Isn't it obvious?" Jones intervenes. "If Raz hadn't gone to the Spire and gotten himself corrupted by that artifact, maybe they wouldn't have come!"

"That is true. We did warn him multiple times." Midas hums. "He at least learnt his lesson after we, along with some assistance from the Spire Assassin, freed him."

"Well, you two did. I just...hid away behind a stone."

"Still though. John has a point."

After the smaller UFO's come to a standstill, the center of the Mothership opens and fires an abduction beam down onto the Spire, pulling it free from the ground. A charge of purple energy goes through it and causes the tower to explode into pieces.

"The Spire..." Jules gasps.

"The Zero Point..." Midas breathes.

"THE FOUNDATION!" Jones yells.

The siblings look at Jones due to his rather attention drawing yell.

"What? I have a right to be worried about the guy."

"Was it necessary for you to announce your worries to the entirety of Pleasant Park?"

Jones snickers awkwardly, backing away back into the house.

"No. Probably not, hehe."

Jules sighs, holding the bridge of her nose.

"Y'know Midas, I know you're crushing on him but I don't know how you can put up with his antics." Jules admits. "Drives me nuts sometimes."

She walks back inside, leaving Midas alone with the pink blush on his cheeks returning at the mention of Jones. He digs through his front waistcoat pocket and takes out two small pieces of paper with a sigh.

"I suppose I'll have to wait until this alien invasion blows over to ask."

He puts the paper back in his waistcoat pocket and returns to the phonecall he had going.

"Alright. Skye, are you still there?"

"Hey Midas, it's Marigold. Skye's currently running around like crazy with Tina. Seems as though they're sure aliens are here to be our friends."

"Ah, I see. Well I don't really believe they come in peace. But I'm not going to interfere with her beliefs."

"Mm. So, what do you need?"

"I was going to send some agents to see what the center island looks like now and report back to me on their findings." Midas explains, heading back inside and locking the door behind him. "Take as much time as you need, as long as you can come back with some useful information."

"Alright Midas. I'll take both Skye and Tina with me." Marigold agrees. "Not only will they be of help, but they can get a closeup of these alien biomes that seemed to have appeared after the Spire exploded."

"Very well then. Good luck."

Midas ends the call there, rubbing his one good eye and yawning. God he was tired. He wanted to sleep so badly. But of course, his trauma and insomnia refused to let him sleep in peace. He walks past Jones' room, the door having been left open by him. He was wrapped up in his bedsheets, an arm under his pillow.

He seemed so... peaceful.

Midas sighs, closing the door but still leaving it a crack open. He then goes into his own room, gets out of his work attire and slips on a vest and shorts. Collapsing on his bedsheets he pulls the bedsheets over his body and turns to the bedside table.

A framed picture of him and a small ginger haired girl with happy smiles sat next to an alarm clock. Well, he had a relatively small smile on his face. The girl had a big bubbly grin. He hums softly, his eyes growing heavy from his lack of sleep.

"Wherever you are kid, I hope you're finding what you're looking for."

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A couple days later...

It was roughly mid-day by the time Midas finally awakens from his troubled sleep. Jones was sat on his phone, scrolling through his camera roll, when he eventually walks downstairs and begins make himself some breakfast in the kitchen.

"Oh, hey! You took a while to get up. You okay?"

Midas hums with a stretch as he finishes preparing his morning chamomile tea. Adding a single teaspoon of sugar he yawns quietly as he picks up his plate of marmalade on toast and sits down next to Jones, who was enjoying a cup of coffee while dressed in a white tuxedo shirt and jeans.

"I'll... take that as a no then?"

Midas grumbles, taking a bite of his toast and turning to his boyfriend. He looked absolutely exhausted and showed an expression that read 'I'm so fucking done'.

"Jeez man. No offense but you look terrible." Jones admits, noticing the bags under Midas' eyes.

"I got roughly 3 hours of sleep last night." He groans, taking a gulp of his tea. "But hey. When you suffer from insomnia, plus self afflicted trauma, you eventually grow used to it."

Jones is obviously worried about him.

"3 hours of sleep?! I get 8 hours of sleep and even then I'm still exhausted. But 3 hours?!"

"Don't bother trying to help me. My only remedy is this tea the kid recommend to me once night."

"You mean the chamomile tea?"

"Mhm. It's meant to be an aid for people who have problems with insomnia."

"And yet you still have restless nights." Jules mumbles walking into the kitchen, looking a lot less tired than the boys.

"Well you can't expect insomnia to just disappear completely overnight, sister."

"I know."

A knock on the front door stops the conversation there. Jules goes to answer, and is met with Marigold. She lets her inside and both take a seat on the couch. The boys sit up, despite Midas' want to go back to sleep.

"Hello you three. Sorry I couldn't be here sooner." She greets them. "I... have some rather alarming news. Specifically for you John Jones. But I'll get to that last."

"So, what did you and the girls find?" Midas questions.

"The Zero Point disappeared as the Spire was destroyed. We assumed its either buried back underground or inside the Mothership." Marigold explains. "The aliens have already started stepping foot onto the island, explains the purple alien biomes. As for the Foundation..."

She pauses to collect her thoughts.

"Did you find him?" Jones asks, leaning forward.

"Well... it's anybody's guess as to where he is now." Marigold sighs. "But I think he's the least of your worries Jones."

"Oh yeah? What makes you say that?" He enquires, drinking the last of his coffee.

Marigold sucks the air through her teeth before revealing the most alarming news.

"Jones...I don't know how to put this lightly. But the I.O have returned. And this time, your old boss Doctor Slone is with them. And they aren't happy with you in the slightest."

The blond immediately goes pale in the face as she breaks the news. Out of shock he accidentally drops the mug he was holding too. Midas stares at Marigold, wide eyed as he pauses finishing his toast. Jules simply sighs, crossing her arms.

"... W-What?! She's here?!"

"Mhm. By the sound of things boys, she really has it out for the two of you. She going to send out guards to look for you until you're either captured or killed." Marigold points out, unknowingly only putting more stress onto Jones.

"So when reality is on the brink of destruction they sit back and watch. But when aliens attack they actually do something?" Midas grunts. "What a bunch of fucking lazy pricks."

"At least Jonesy here actually tried, AND succeeded. Right Jones?"

But he wasn't listening anymore. His stress was continuing to rise as his breathing begins to speed up. Memories of his life at I.O start to crawl back into his mind.

"I have no idea why I still keep you around John. Now go do your fucking job or you'll be without one in the next 10 minutes."

"What on earth were you thinking bringing her with you?! This is all your fault Jones!"

"You're a fucking coward John. You always will be. Now get back in the Loop and deal with the anomaly before I make you."

The memories end as a distant gunshot goes out, the sound of his deceased wife screaming in pain. Slone's hand grips him by the collar of his shirt, a deceiving grin on her face.

"Hide down there for as long as you can John Jones, because when the time is right, I'll be coming for the two of you."

----

"Jones!! Can you hear me?"

He looks up and sees Midas and the girls giving him very concerned glances.

"I... I'm okay." He chuckles lightly, sweat sliding down his face. "Just had something come back to me is all."

"Are you sure? You're as pale as me." Midas hums, stroking his cheek with a hand.

"You looked as though you were having a panic attack." Marigold tells him.

Jones hugs his arms, shivering in fear of the Imagined Order. It probably wouldn't have been that disastrous news to him if Marigold didn't mention Slone had come to the island with the guards. Midas sighs, putting an arm around his terrified boyfriend.

"Don't worry. We'll be here to protect you." He reassures him. "I'll be here for you."

Jones wraps his arms around him tightly, burying his head in Midas' chest. He was confident he'd be there to protect Jones from Slone and I.O's wrath against him, but with the aliens to deal with at the same time...

He wasn't sure he'd be able to hold onto him tight forever.

Sooner or later they'd probably be separated...

Forced apart...

Leaving this cowardly office clerk to fend for himself...

And that's what scared Midas.

If Jones becomes too dependent on him, and they got separated from each other, he was afraid he wouldn't last a second out alone on the island...

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